Dangerous Pastime
by Answer
Summary: Hearts pounding, minds racing - one way or another, this would bring their story to an end. One-shot.


**It's quite late at night now. It's dark and it's cold and I'm riding on Papa's horse, clinging on as though my very life depends upon it. I don't think I've ever ridden this fast before. The wind pulls at my hair, rendering my cloak useless as it flaps behind me. Rain is beating my face, running into my eyes and falling like tears. This, I realise, is adventure. This is the thrill, the urgency, the sense that something I can do will matter – this is what I have waited for. This is what I have wanted all my life. I think. **

**But it's all gone wrong. This isn't how I wanted it to be. Because it isn't my life that I risk, it isn't my destiny that I ride to – it is his. I ride not to the aid of the handsome man who would have carried me from my dull existence as it was only months ago, I ride not to witness him boldly slay the fearsome creature that took my liberty – I ride to beg him, to implore him not to commit _murder_. I have never really known what I wanted. But now, of this – I have never been more… **

Sure. Decisive. Steady. I'm a born hunter. Of all my qualities, I've always prided myself the most on that. It is important for a man to have an occupation, something that makes him unique. I've seen it in animals. It is the strongest, the bravest, the toughest that are the leaders, that control the others – that have the females. Females want protection. I can offer that. 

While I hunt, I'm focused. Nothing can distract me. For the moments before I triumph, I am one with the animal. I breathe as it breathes, move as it moves – taste its very blood in my mouth. 

This creature is even more hideous closer up, but I don't let that sidetrack me. This monster is of flesh and blood and I can kill him. It. 

_It. _

It did something to Belle. Before she left she was odd, yes, but she knew what was what – that hard-to-get routine really had some of the men in the tavern going before I set them straight. Now she wants to save this thing. Poor girl doesn't know what she's talking about any more. Good thing I could help her before it was too… 

**_Late. It's too late. Of course it is – we've all been watching the rose for hours now, but none can be more aware of time than I. It has consumed me these last ten years – I can think of nothing but time. Everything must be run to a schedule, there is no room for spontaneity. Last night I even dreamed about running late. _**

**_We none of us see ourselves in dreams as we now appear. We do not dream as clocks and candlesticks and crockery. We dream as men and women, trapped in a nightmare where we have no control over anything – least of all the passing of time. At night I see the castle as it used to be – beautiful, warm, happy. Alive. _**

**_We are dead men. Everyone here has aged since the curse began, though it is as though time has passed more slowly here than it ever has before. And yet in these last few months, there is not a person here whose hopes did not rise with the sun each morning, whose heart did not sing with joy. Because we had a chance. The girl gave us a chance. _**

**_We cannot blame the master. Not for the curse, not for this. He is young – all young people are selfish. But he let her go. He could have saved himself, but he didn't. He let her go to save an old man he would have left to rot in the dungeon. He has changed. _**

**_Yet it is for this reason that he deserves to change back, to be himself. To be… _**

Human. I know what that means now. For years, I have persuaded myself that inside me there is a man – strong. Adult. I have trouble even convincing myself, but she believed me. I thought she would save me, but now I know I'll never see her again. She was my prisoner. She made herself happy enough as a prisoner, but there is no reason for her to return to the castle – or to the monster who loves her.

Because I do. I love her. I love her voice. I love her smile. I love the way she can make life…

_Beautiful. That was how I always saw life. Bright. There was no sadness that couldn't be overcome with a relief that we were all still standing. There are so many beautiful things in this world to make life worth living – more than _worth_ living. Life is a gift and I used to make a point of loving every moment of it. It has become hard since that curse began. _

_I am a man of simple pleasures. I like good wine and better company. I like to have the love of a beautiful woman. I would give Babette anything she asked for, but some things are not mine to give. _

_She had almost saved the master – saved all of us. We were so… _

**Close. I can see the castle now. A voice in my head cries out "Home!" and I don't disagree with it. I _have_ found a home for myself here. I know where my heart is. It is that heart that leads me now. **

**I would never have believed, if you had told me my own story, that a heroine who was seen as different, who knew what pain being different could cause, could have been so blind. I misjudged him. Perhaps I misjudged myself. **

**Being different gave me a sense that, somehow, I was better. I watched the people who had – reluctantly – accepted Papa and I into their community with almost a feeling of superiority. _Little people_. Poor foolish folk who hadn't the ambition to search for anything beyond that little village. But look where my thirst for adventure has got me. **

**Whether or not I would have preferred this never to have happened is immaterial, because here I am. And there they are. I have no time to consider my options. I cry out and somehow through the wind and the rain, they hear… **

Me. It should be me. She calls out my name. Surely she is calling for me. 

But no. She wants me to spare the creature. I was right. Not only does Belle have feelings for this monster – he loves her back. 

Priceless! 

I haven't anticipated the rush of strength the monster finds within him. I move back, working out my… 

**_Timing. The girl is back with only minutes to spare. The rose is shrivelled and sad, with only one last petal clinging on for life. All hope will die with that flower. Every second echoes around us like a drumbeat. There is nothing we can do. All we can wish for lies within… _**

Belle. She came back. She came back to me.

Do I deserve her? I don't know. For now, though, I have a reason to be alive, and I will fight for her. For…

_Love. I see it differently, now. If we can be said to have gained anything from this horrible experience, I suppose I've learned that life is too valuable not to take full advantage of. Love is the most precious thing of all. _

_The girl is back – and suddenly I am not worried for myself, for my colleagues – but for the master. Terrible as it is, we can learn to live with what the curse has done to us. But the master loves Belle. If he loses her now, he will truly have lost everything. _

_Silently, I make a wish. All of us do. Let the _demoiselle_ save him. _

_Save _

**_the _**

**"Beast!" **


End file.
